From the author of The House Between Tides, winner of the Waterstones Scottish Book of the Year, comes an atmospheric and stunningly evocative historical novel. Perfect for fans of Sarah Perry's The Essex Serpent.

'Beautifully told and quietly absorbing' - Kate Riordan

Scotland,1893. Nineteen-year-old Evelyn Ballantyre, the daughter of a wealthy landowner, has rarely strayed from her family's estate in the Scottish Borders. She was once close to her philanthropist father, but his silence over what really happened on the day a poacher was shot on estate land has come between them.

An invitation to accompany her father to Canada is a chance for Evelyn to escape her limited existence. But once there, on the wild and turbulent Nipigon river, she is shocked to discover that their guide is James Douglas, Ballantyre's former stable hand, and once her friend. He disappeared the night of the murder, charged with the shooting.

Evelyn never believed that James was guilty - and her father's role in the killing has always been mysterious. What does he have to hide? In the wild landscape of a new world, far from the constraints of polite society, the secrets and lies surrounding that night are finally stripped away, with dramatic consequences.

***

'Maine writes beautifully about the wilderness' The Times

'Riveting' Publishers Weekly

'Stunning' Booklist

'Maine's gift of setting the mood shines' RT Reviews